Lea chuckled bitterly. "So basically 'happiness is mandatory'," he said. It was obvious he was quoting it from somewhere. "Or at least the appearance of happiness. Light forbid that someone..." He cut himself off with a sigh and a shake of his head. "...Never mind."

"Anyway, for the record, no one has to be 'nice' to me. If you or anyone else has a problem with me, I'd rather they just come out and tell me directly so we can take care of it, rather that trying to come up with a million ways to dance around it for fear of hurting my feelings. That'd actually make me feel less insulted than niceness for niceness' sake."